The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh will attend the State Opening of Parliament on Wednesday, 8th May. Her Majesty and His Royal Highness will be accompanied byThe Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall.

Camilla will wear the Dehli Durbar, only thing that matches the occasion well enough.

I hope not, it always look like something out of a Miss World contest. I much prefer the glitter of the Boucheron Honeycomb tiara.

I am actually surprised that Charles & Camilla will be in attendance. I thought that attendance by other royals pretty much stopped after the reforms to the House of Lords removed the hereditary peers. I wonder what this signals.

The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh will attend the State Opening of Parliament on Wednesday, 8th May. Her Majesty and His Royal Highness will be accompanied byThe Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall.

That's great news. But i can not understand why they never do. At last Charles as Heir should always attend.

IMO the signal is quite the same as the diamond jubilee 's balcony scene : we are now in a transitional phase and the next reign is getting closer.
The recent health scares from HM and the Duke didn't help to dissipate the sad feeling that we are in a turning point in HM 's reign...

I think The Prince of Wales & Duchess of Cornwall should attend the State Opening every year. I do miss seeing the royal family attend this grand event. I think it's one of the most important event on the royal calendar next to a Coronation.

I'm very happy about this. When Charles & Diana used to attend, they used to ride in the carriage with The Queen & Duke of Edinburgh and they used to sit in the Chairs of State on the dais next to The Queen & Prince Philip. I guess this how it will go this year.

Very true, times are changing and the Wales's & Cambridge's will be stepping up their roles. It's sad in one way and a great sense of renewal in another.

I think The Prince of Wales & Duchess of Cornwall should attend the State Opening every year. I do miss seeing the royal family attend this grand event. I think it's one of the most important event on the royal calendar next to a Coronation.

Hmm..Glad that Prince of Wales is attending, whatever the reason.
Anyways Princess Royal attends almost every year, but then as The Gold Stick, and not as a Peeress..
I love those vintage footages of '60s when all four of them used to arrive together in the carriage to The Parliament..preceded by Kents, Gloucesters, Snowdons..

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The only word I hate in the Royal Dictionary - ABDICATION

Yup..and you know what amused me most..
Princess Marina, Duchess of kent, Duchess of Gloucester,Countess of Snowdon..They used to enter in the same order.
And the whole rows of Peeresses used to make deep curtsies synchronously each time one of these women entered. Nice scene.
And finally when the Queen enters, all of them, including theses 4 women would again make a super-deep curtsey..
I think that video is on Youtube..State Opening on 60s, I guess..

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The only word I hate in the Royal Dictionary - ABDICATION

Nice to see Charles and Camilla attending, its definitely a way to ease us in to the images of them attending this in years to come. Also I think its a good plan in case the Queen has to pull out, maybe Charles can take over without it being such a major step as it will be a case of "well he was attending anyway..."

Hmm..Glad that Prince of Wales is attending, whatever the reason.
Anyways Princess Royal attends almost every year, but then as The Gold Stick, and not as a Peeress..
I love those vintage footages of '60s when all four of them used to arrive together in the carriage to The Parliament..preceded by Kents, Gloucesters, Snowdons..

A major reason why Anne doesn't attend as a peeress is that she isn't a peeress. She is a commoner - can vote and stand for election to the House of Commons and has been able to do so since 1970 when the age was lowered in the UK from 21 to 18. Charles has never been able to vote as he has been a peer of the realm since his mother's accession when he became a peer as Duke of Cornwall. Andrew, Edward and William were all commoners until their wedding days when they were promoted to peers while Camilla, Kate, Harry, Beatrice, Eugenie, Sophie, Anne, Tim, Birgitte, Katherine, Michael, Marie-Christine and Alexandra are all commoners.